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Welcome to our classroom website! We are so excited that you have chosen to visit our class homepage! This website is designed so that we can share what's happening in our classroom with our family and friends. As you go through our site, you can find our daily schedule, see pictures from special events, view projects, meet our teacher, and more. We hope that by visiting our classroom website, you will get a better idea of what we do each day.

As you all know, the science fair is quickly approaching! Completed science fair boards are due on Friday, April 11. The science fair will be held on April 15th and I think it is going to be fabulous! Most of the experiments are complete, so the final step is to prepare for the actual presentation. The students must be present during judging and have to be able to discuss their project and answer questions presented by the judges. The judging and grading will be based on the same rubric, which is attached below. You should go through the rubric item by item to be sure that all of the elements are included. I also have a sample science fair board in my classroom if you would like to get an idea of how you can set up the board. Boards may be purchased in the office for $3.

Quick Science Fair Tips:

· Type each part of your experiment and use a large font size - if you cannot print, you can email your materials or put them on a disk and I can print them for you (if you don't have access to a computer, we can try to make time for you to type your work, or you may come in after school, just make sure to arrange it with me first.)

· Include photos to make it more interesting

· Bring any artifacts, samples, or materials you can

· Anything hand written should be done in your best handwriting

· Follow the rubric – this is exactly what the judges will be using to score your project

· Make sure all parts of your experiment tie into your question

*NOTE: No science or DLR homework will be assigned until after the science fair - students will still be expected to complete the weekly reading log.*

We are "currently" working on electricity and the fourth graders are really having a great time! One of the big hits so far has been our Snap Circuits kit. A lot of the kids were asking where to buy them, so I thought I would share a link. This is the kit that I have, but there are lots of them out there. If you search for Snap Circuits on Amazon, it will bring up a lot of different kits. They are a lot of fun and are a safe way for kids to explore electricity. There is a really cool one that they have about renewable energies and there are also kits that focus specifically on sound or light.

The time has come for me to put my
feet up and relax before our little one arrives. I will be gone from October 24th until around the 1st of the year. I've tried to plan
things in a way to make the transition easier for the kids and for you as well.
I would like to encourage you to be patient though as we make this change since
it will take some time for our substitute to learn our routines.

Next week will be a review week, so
it will be a little bit different than our regular routine, but after that,
things will go back to normal. The students do not have any homework for
science next week (unless they did not finish their project requirements). They
will be reviewing our life science (human body for 5th grade) information
on Monday and will be tested upon it on Friday. Your child may bring home their
science notebooks to help them prepare. They can also log into the DiscoveryTechbook to watch videos and play games to help them review. They will also get
a study guide on Monday. In addition, they will also be creating a presentation
(in class) to showcase their science project, so it is important they bring
their data and conclusion if they haven’t already done so (the data was handed
back to use in the conclusion, but they will need to bring it back to school so
it can be included in the presentation). The following week, the students will
start working on physical science (heredity for 5th grade) and also
on their 2nd marking period science project. We will follow the
exact same steps as the 1st marking period, just with different
subject matter.

I will be checking my email
regularly, so if you have any questions, feel free to email me. I’ll do my best
to help out, but once the baby gets here, I’m not making any promises. J Parent teacher
conferences are also coming up. We haven’t decided what we plan to do about
that, but as soon as a decision is made I will let you know what the plan is.

Not only is it back, but it has been expanded! All of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will be taking part! This means that the level of fun is increasing! Each week, the class with the most points per students is awarded the title of "Team of the Week". The top player in the school will also be recognized as the "Player of the Week". In addition, we will also have a class "Player of the Day" based on who earned the most points the day before. The Player of the Day will get to go to the treat box, have their picture featured on our website, and get to wear the Player of the Day badge! To start playing, click on the image, or visit firstinmath.com!

Just a reminder that school pictures are tomorrow! Students may wear free dress as long as it is school appropriate. Extra picture packets are available in the office or you may also order online at: http://www.lakeshoreschoolphotography.com/ (I think you can at least).

I can't believe we are already done with the third week of school! It will be Christmas before we know it! I just finished a few updates of the class website, including links to the student blogs (just for my homeroom students so far) and I also uploaded some pictures to our photo page. The student blogs are private, so you will need the class access code to visit the websites, so please let me know if you would like it (I told the students, but they may have forgotten). Monday's "Raider Report" is also available on the 8th Broadcasting page.

This week in science we will be starting new units in both 4th and 5th grades. The 4th graders will be moving on to learn more about the basic needs of animals while the 5th graders will be learning about the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. I've been very impressed with how hard the students have been working in science, as well as how much they have learned already! They are all doing such a great job and making me one happy teacher!

Today we learned about a new program that we'll be taking part in! We're going to be logging the miles we walk with the hopes of walking enough miles to circle the equator. There is a kickoff on Sunday and any student that shows up will receive a free t-shirt. The goal for each student for the year is 100 miles. To track the miles, you can simple count minutes (we'll count 20 minutes of walking as 1 mile), use an app, or walk a known distance (for example, the boardwalk is 1.5 miles). I have an app on my phone called "Map My Run" which would be super handy for tracking miles. If you don't have a smart phone, you can also use the app on the Map My Run website - you can create a route and it will tell you how many miles it is. Any time your child reaches 5 miles, let me know and I will log it for the school's total.

You can also join our school's group on the Walk My Run website by visiting this this website!

Today in science, we created bag bombs! They were a lot of fun to make, and a few of the students mentioned they would like to do them at home. All you need is a Ziploc bag, baking soda, vinegar, water, and a tissue. In the bag, add 1/4 cup warm water to 1/2 cup vinegar. Next, spread a tissue out and add 3 teaspoons of baking soda. Bunch up the tissue to hold the baking soda. Close the bag most of the way and leave enough space to slip in the tissue packet. Drop in the tissue, seal the bag (it is important to get a good seal), give the bag a little shake, and toss it! Toss it somewhere soft so the impact doesn't cause the explosion. In addition to making great scientific guesses, the students also practiced science safety by using their goggles! I originally found this experiment at the E is for Explore blog.

We had such a great first day! I was so happy with all the great behavior that I got to see today! Hopefully the students had a great day too! I feel so blessed to be able to work with this sweet group of kids every day! I can already see that they are great thinkers!

Just in case the science project information didn't make it home, I've attached a copy to this page. The assignment for the first week is due on Friday. The students basically need to "look at something" and make some notes about it. The most tricky part is the "My Thoughts" box. This isn't intended to be an opinion of the topic; rather it should be more of your child's explanation of why things are the way they are. For example, my thoughts on a rocket launch is that there is some sort of chemical reaction that causes a rocket to shoot off. Do I know if that's correct? Nope, it is just what I made up to explain a rocket launch. The same is true for the students' projects. The thoughts aren't right or wrong - I'm just looking for your child's explanation of how things work. We'll be testing the rightness or wrongness throughout the process of experimenting, so it is 100% okay for their explanation to be incorrect. If you have any questions, let me know!

There are also a few students who haven't turned in their $2 for their reading binder. There is no rush, but I just wanted to put it out there for those that may have forgotten with all the first-day craziness!

This year's Open House is quickly approaching - it's tomorrow afternoon already! You should have all received a letter from me by now giving you a heads up about a few things. If you didn't receive the letter, I've attached a copy of it.

Drama Club sign-up will also be taking part in my room, so if your child is interested, be sure to grab a drama packet!